Could this also be the source of a medically resistant (possibly staph) infection? If so, then that may be what had me in the hospital back in March. It seemed to have been a case of athlete's foot gone haywire, but I had also been doing burn piles in the woods and I know I had gotten into some serious thorns, and had a dirt daubber sting, don't recall any ticks, but that's not to say they weren't there too. SE Texas is in the area shaded on your map...